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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Joseph Prince » Joseph Prince - God's Plan To Bless You

Joseph Prince - God's Plan To Bless You


Joseph Prince - God's Plan To Bless You
Joseph Prince - God's Plan To Bless You
TOPICS: God's will, Blessing

You all ready for God's Word? All right, I'm gonna dive right into the Word of God, and I pray that you'll be blessed by it. In fact, wisdom is different from knowledge in that when you talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, a word of wisdom gives you a general picture of the future, amen. A word of knowledge gives you a specific word for the present time. Like, for example, you can be praying and I've had this happen to me also, down through the years, you can be praying for somebody who is now 45 years old and the person is embarrassed and very shy to stand in public and even speak, you know? So the person doesn't know why, but when I'm praying for the person, the Lord says: "Seven years old," or the Lord will say, "Five years old".

And that's a word of knowledge, just a word. God doesn't give paragraphs. It's none of my business. God will give me enough to help the person so I say, "What happened to you when you were 5 years old? Did anything happen to you"? "Oh, the most embarrassing thing happened. I still feel it today. You know, my", or 6 years old, whatever. "My teacher made me stand up in front of the class and sing a song that I never wanted to and I was so embarrassed and she made fun of me, or whatever". And now you're feeling that, even though you're 45. So we pray for that, that God will heal that, and guess what? This leaf of being shy to stand in public, be embarrassed, all right, in front of people, just falls off. So God cares, God loves, and God has these words of knowledge. God has wisdom.

Today, I wanna share with you God's wisdom, all right? His plans and his purposes. Are you ready? The law demands righteousness from sinfully bankrupt men. Grace imparts righteousness to sinfully bankrupt men. The first miracle of Moses who was a servant of God was to turn water into blood, resulting in death. The first miracle of grace which is through the Son, Jesus Christ, not a servant but a Son, is to turn water into wine, resulting in life and celebration. When God first gave the law 3000 people died at the foot of Mount Sinai. When God gave the Spirit, 3000 people were saved at Mount Zion.

So that tells us the Ten Commandments, the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. And people still have this idea from the flesh that, "Well, if I don't have the law, I cannot be holy," but the Bible says in Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under law but under grace". It is only when you are not under law that sin will not have dominion over you. But not under law doesn't mean lawless. You're under grace, and grace empowers you to go and sin no more. Can I have a good "Amen," church? Praise the Lord. So Israel was under law for 1500 years. Grace is longer. We've been under grace for 2000 years. Are you listening, people?

So for 1500 years, they were under law and the best of them failed. David failed, all right? And the law condemns the best of us. Grace saves the worst of us, hallelujah. And for 1500 years, Israel was under the law, but God still dealt with them until they committed idolatry, in other words, they exchanged gods and God said, as a result, God brought in the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar whom God calls, "My servant". Remember this: God can use secular authority to chastise his people. That happened in the Old Testament, okay? So the thing is this. God brought Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians and they took Israel, all right?

Burned down the temple, and took Israel away in captivity, and that's where you find the story of Daniel and all that. And when Daniel was in captivity, Daniel had a dream. First of all, the king, Nebuchadnezzar, had a dream. And Daniel was a Jew taken in captivity. That goes to show that even in captivity, God still has mercy. And just cut long story short, in Daniel's book, Daniel talk about the dream that Nebuchadnezzar have, but he cannot interpret. You see, wisdom is being able to interpret what you see. And Nebuchadnezzar saw this great statue and all that, and the first empire, second empire, third empire, and the fourth empire. And later on, Daniel saw the same thing in terms of animals. He saw a ram, he saw a goat, and all this speaks of the four empires: a Gentile empires, non-Jewish empire. We are now in the last empire, by the way, Gentile.

So God meant for Israel to dominate the entire earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea, but they failed. So God talk about Gentile empire, and the first one is Nebuchadnezzar himself. He is the... what empire is that? Babylon, Babylonian empire, that conquered the known world then. And after him will come the two horns that Daniel saw which is Cyrus and Darius which is Medes and the Persians, okay? And then the Persians became very powerful, okay, and the Persians tried to... in fact, they conquered Greece.

That's when the 300 story came out: how the 300 Spartan warriors in Greece stood against the Persians. But ultimately, they lost. And because of that, there's a lot of bitterness in the hearts of Greece. Greece was not even a nation. It was a broken-up nation of villages and hamlets and all that. And Daniel saw that, from Greece, the goat. He saw a goat with a notable horn coming out, and it is Alexander the Great. He saw all this in 600 BC, 600-over BC. Alexander was born 300-over BC. That's more than 300 years. He saw all that happen, and he saw this notable horn coming against the Medo-Persians and hammer the ram so hard the ram fell and this goat conquered it.

By the way, Alexander named the sea in Greece Aegean Sea, and Aegean means goat, which is the vision of Greece that Daniel saw. And another vision he saw of Greece was it's a picture of a leopard and his conquest was as if the feet never touched the ground. That talks about Alexander's conquest of the known world. He conquered so fast that, you know, like no other king after him, it was so fast, one nation after another. And then Daniel saw in the vision the horn was broken suddenly. Alexander died suddenly at 33 years old. And Daniel saw that after this horn was cut off, Alexander died suddenly, it was divided into four empires and four generals of Alexander took over. Are you listening, people?

And after the Greece empire, he saw another empire, stronger than every other empire. It was the Roman empire. And that's the time that Jesus was born. Are you all with me so far? So, in other words, because Israel failed, God allowed Gentile dominion to come in, all right? The Babylonians, then the Medo-Persians, and then the Greece, and then the Romans. And then God prophesied and Daniel saw, God gave Daniel a vision of the end times, that after the Roman empire ends, there'll be another revived Roman empire from which the Antichrist will come out from the regions where Rome used to conquer. Right now, you must understand that everything revolves around the nation of Israel and why does the devil hate them so much? Because God chose them to bear light and testify of him, of his goodness. And then God sent his Son as a Jew.

So it was while doing the Gentile domination, the Roman domination, that in the little town called Bethlehem, Christ was born, the Savior of the world. So it's almost like this: God looked at the nation of Israel and God said, "I'm gonna give you priests". They killed their priests, they rejected their priests, and God says, "I'll send you prophets," all right? They rejected the prophet. They disobeyed the Word of God in the prophet's mouth. And then they wanted a king. God says, "Okay, I'll give you a king". But they didn't want God's king. They want their king, and King Saul failed miserably, amen? So, both priest, prophet, king, all failed. Then Jesus came, and he is the Son of God. And he has all the offices, all the threefold office, of a prophet, priest, and king.

And in Matthew 12, chapter 12, he was preaching to the leadership of Israel that rejected him. But the ultimate rejection was in Matthew 12, and that's why in Matthew 13, it tells us Jesus left the house and went by the seaside and taught for the first time the seven kingdom parables. Parables hide truths from those who have no heart for it, but reveals wonderful gems to those who are hungry for it. That's the purpose of a parable. And a parable of the kingdom was shared in Matthew 13 for the first time, and the very first verse says he left the house. House always represents Israel. There's a reason even for his movements. The Bible is, every detail is full of and pregnant with divine significance. He left the house, left Israel, and went by the seaside. Sea always represents the nations of the world. Are you listening, people? And he preached.

Now, what happened? What caused him to leave the house and go to the seaside? Because in chapter 12, 12 comes before chapter 13, the kingdom parables, right? Twelve is before thirteen, right? One, two, three, okay. Twelve, chapter 12, tells us about the leadership rejecting Jesus Christ and that's when he talk about sinning against, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, in chapter 12 of Matthew. And then in Matthew 12, he says there's one here, referring to himself, that is greater than the temple. The temple is where the priests are. So he's saying, what? He's greater than all the priests. And then in the same chapter 12, he said, "A greater than Jonah is here". And then, right after that, in the next verse he says, "A greater than Solomon is here".

Of all the kings that ever lived, no one was wiser and more prosperous than Solomon. And he says, "A greater than Solomon is here". So Jesus Christ, who is prophet, priest, king, greater than the greatest priest, greater than the greatest evangelist, greater than the greatest prophet or king, he's here before them, and the leaders of Israel rejected him in his threefold glory. Do you see that? Do you understand? They kept on rejecting him. Even though he went about his kingdom that he says, and he says things like this: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". So Jesus wasn't preaching exactly the gospel of grace yet, even though he was full of grace. Because the full revelation is not there.

So he went around preaching, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand". He's telling them, "People, there is the kingdom of heaven". He unstopped deaf ears. He opened the eyes of the blind. He cleansed the lepers. He raised the dead. He loved the children. Where there was scarcity, he multiplied, the 5 loaves and 2 fish, and became abundance with 12 basketful left over. Jesus comes to bring light into our darkness, to bring out plenty from little, to give us life, health, longevity. He has come. He is the King of life. He's called the King of Shalom, Melchizedek, King of righteousness, King of Shalom. You see Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll. What does that mean? That means he is the one that masters it, all right?

You say he's the king of musicians, he's the king of chefs. That means he must make very good food. Well, Jesus is the King of Shalom. He knows how to make your body perfectly well. He knows how to set your mind perfectly at poise, at peace. He can adjust your spirit until it's so full of tranquility that you acquiesce in his peace, in his tranquility. What a life, shalom, amen? But they rejected Jesus. The King is in their midst, their own King. That's why when he was crucified, Pilate put on there, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". And what kind of king is he? He's a king that wears their clothes, walked amongst them, and the only thing he asked is that "let me heal your broken places. Let me lift you up. Let me raise you, amen. Let me encourage you, let me bless you. Let me bring plenty into your poverty. Let me bring light into your darkness".

That's the King that he is. In light of all that, they rejected him, wow. They rejected him. And yet, he loved them. You know, when they crucified him, the Bible tells us when he was crucified on the cross... I want you to know something. Nobody can take his life from him. He himself said, "No man taketh my life from me. I lay down my life. I lay down my life". Jesus never surrendered. You know, when they came to arrest him, soldiers brandishing their staves and their swords, holding torches, many of them, came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest one man. And that one man said one word when they said, "We are looking for Jesus of Nazareth". He stepped forward and he spoke the name of God in the burning bush when Moses asked, "What is your name"? God says, "I Am that I Am".

When they asked, "We are looking for Jesus," Jesus stood up and says, "I am". And these strong soldiers with weapons fell. All of them fell in the Garden. If only Mel Gibson had that. He never consulted me, so never mind. I just ask for 0.01%, that's it. But isn't it better to stay with God's Word? They all fell. Here, the captive was waiting for the captivators to get up. "Are you all ready now"? He gave himself. And on that cross, God gave the nation another chance, all right? Do you know that with the cross, people, it's not Jesus died as a martyr. Some people watch the movie, "The Passion," and think, "Oh, poor thing. Horrible, what they did to him". No, it was God's predetermined plan that God should send his Son to die for our sins.

On the cross, he who knew no sin, who did no sin, in him is no sin, but he became a sin offering on the cross with your sins, with my sins, and God took all our sins, based on his knowledge, not our limited meager knowledge, and put it on Jesus Christ so when God punishes our sins based on his knowledge, they're all forgiven. There is no such thing as you committing a sin tomorrow that God says, "Oh man, I forgot to put that one in". We're not forgiven based on our knowledge, based on our being cognizant of our sin, where we realize we have sinned, we take that sin and we confess to God. You think for one moment there's no other unconfessed sin in your life?

If you go by confession of sins as your forgiveness, I'm telling you even after you confess, because most of us confess only the big ones. There are many, many sins yet to be confessed. We cannot confess based on our knowledge. We have to confess that God has forgiven us based on his knowledge. How that tranquilizes the heart. How that emancipates our hearts. How that gives peace to our conscience. I can tell you, even atheists who don't believe in God, there's one thing they cannot escape: their conscience. Something that tells them when they have done wrong, it tells them so. They can try to quench it with alcohol. They can try to quench it with loud music. They can try to quench it; when they go home and they're sleeping, it's still with them.

One thing you cannot run away from is your conscience, that men got when they partook from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But for us, we can stand before God with a good conscience. A good conscience means I can meet my debtor that I owed $10,000 but now somebody paid $50,000 on my behalf. Now I can see him in the face and know that not only am I forgiven of my debt, but he has become enriched because of me. That's how forgiven we are. At the cross when lightning and thunders were flashing right over Jesus's head, God Almighty unleashed upon Jesus's body all the fury of righteous wrath, holy wrath, righteous indignation, punishment, holy vengeance against all lawlessness and sins of men all fell upon Jesus.

Jesus is the only one who can absorb all of God's judgment and that's the reason why at the cross for the first time Jesus cried out, "My God, my God". He calls his Father "My God" for the first time. Always he calls him "Father," but at the cross God wasn't dealing with the Son, God was dealing with a substitute with a sin offering. Jesus addressed God, not as "Father," but as "God". Do you understand, people, it is a mystery. At the cross, as God he turned his back because he's of purer eyes than to behold evil. But as Father, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was never more pleasing to the Father than when he laid down his life in obedience to him.

And that's the reason why in the book of Leviticus, of all the five offerings (burnt offering, meal offering, peace offering, sin and trespass offering) they are called the most holy offering. What a mystery. When he became sin, he was a most holy offering, hallelujah, wow. I got a problem when people say things, "At the cross," instead of saying Jesus became sin, they say, "He became a murderer. At the cross he became a rapist. At the cross he became a pedophile". I got a problem with that. That is man's language, not skilled in describing the language of Scripture. The Bible says he did take our sins as a sin offering. But it's another thing to say all those things. Nothing is more holy than that sacrifice on the cross. As the dark clouds cleared, the tempest died down.

Jesus looked up. Once again, the sin has all been taken. He cried, "Finished. It's all finished". Once more, he addressed God as "Father". Can you see that? "Into your hands, I commit my spirit". And from that time on, nobody can even break a bone of his body. God honored him. God laid him in a tomb that no one has ever used. And on the third day, to show how God has accepted his sacrifice and all of us are forgiven, we're not forgiven because God says, "You know what? I know you boys, you know, you always sin. I sweep your sins under my carpet". No, no, no, we are forgiven judiciously. We are forgiven righteously. We are forgiven on a foundation that no one can dispute. Somebody paid for us. Are you listening?

That's why when you sin, you cannot just, you know, look at the sin and say, "Oh, I've sinned and all that". You've got to revert that to the cross. You've got to see that's what happened to Jesus. He was punished for our sin, for this sin I just committed, so that I'll never be punished. Someone say, "Well, Pastor Prince, like those people that take advantage and..." No, do you think you can take advantage of someone who loved you so much that he took your sin, even that sin you commit, or any sin you commit tomorrow, and still say, you know, "You know what? I don't care about how I lived, whether I dishonor him or not, I'll just live..."

Do you think a person would do that? It's for the lack of this kind of preaching, people are living licentious lifestyle. Pulpit is a place to unveil things so that people believe right and when they believe right, they will live right. They will think right. They will do right. It is for the lack of this kind of preaching that people are not living right. Not because they are bad people. No one taught them so. If you go, you see a poor boy in a poor, in a slum area, growing up, not knowing anything, using profanity he hears from his parents and all that, you don't blame the boy. It's what he believes all these years. He's been hearing the wrong thing. Don't judge him based on his behavior. Don't be shocked when sinners act like sinners. That's why they call him sinner.

When you see a drunken act like a drunk, is it so horrible? "He's acting like a drunk". He's a drunk. So why are we surprised when a sinner act like a sinner, amen? So, here we go. Jesus on the cross, his death fully met all the claims of divine holiness to the point God is satisfied. God is acquiesced in his requirements from sinful men. Jesus took our place and fully met all the claims of divine holiness, and God Jesus has glorified. He even magnified the law by fulfilling it. Do you understand why there's no condemnation for us? It is not because God sweeps everything under the carpet. It's because Jesus died in our place.

You see, something about you all and all of us, you know, we have this tendency. Albeit unconscious many a times, when we do something wrong, we feel a need to punish ourself. Whether you're conscious or not, you feel a need to punish yourself. Young people cut themselves nowadays. They feel a need to feel pain, cut themself. Parents divorce, they cut themself. They blame themselves. There is this thing to punish yourself which is amazing. I cannot explain it. This conscience thing says when something wrong is done, payment must be made. And that's why when you sin, you must see, there is your judgment, there is your beating, there is your condemnation, so that there is therefore now no condemnation. Not because God has gone soft; because the holy God, if he punishes me for the same sin that Jesus was punished for, he will be unholy. So God's holiness is now on my side. Can you understand?

Oh, people, this is a glorious gospel. I feel like forgetting you all and just worship him for a while. I really feel like doing that. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. He didn't have to come down and die for us. So, anyway, the leaders rejected him. God gave them another chance. At the cross, you know what Jesus did? He cried "Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing". Wait a minute, why did he pray that way? In fact, there were two thieves on either side. And at first, in the beginning, both of them were jeering at Jesus, were hurling insults in his face, and they were saying, "You save others; why don't you save us? Save us". And they were jeering insults.

You know why he cannot come down? If he came down, you will never go up. God once saved the nation of Israel and this is how God described it: "I saved you with a stretched-out arm". One arm stretched out. Now both hands stretched out to save the world. And at first, both were insulting Jesus, both thieves. And then one of them changed and said, "Lord, remember me". Why? What happened? Because at the cross, he heard Jesus say, "Father, forgive them". All the Pharisees down there, "They do not know what they are doing". "They do not know what they're doing"?

Don't they know they put the nails in his hands? And don't they know that they are rejecting him? Don't they know? But he found something they do not know. They know they hurt him physically, they don't know how they have hurt him internally. So he knew that they were ignorant. He knew that God has all righteousness and all knowing. He knew that he was all-knowing so he seized upon something they didn't have: ignorance and he says, "Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing". Straightaway, he put all of them under the Levitical offering of sin offering. The sin offering or the trespass offering says: "If a man sin out of ignorance, he can bring a lamb". Are you listening, people?

When he cried that, he put all the whole nation under ignorance. And that's why in Hebrews 10 it says if we sin willfully, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. And some people are so scared, "But Pastor Prince, you see that verse doesn't mean once saved, always saved, and all that". They say that "look at that verse. That verse say we sin willfully there remains no more sacrifice for sin". Now who told you that? That verse actually means if you know Jesus Christ is the Savior, and you totally turn your back on him, you say, "I don't want him," that is sinning willfully, amen? Are you listening, people?

So that is in the book of Hebrews. In the book of Hebrews, the Jewish people, some of them, they believe for a while, all right? But then, they have their feet in two boats. They're not sure: Judaism or believe in grace. Moses, a servant, or Jesus the Son. And then Paul is writing by the Spirit, I believe Paul is the author of Hebrews. He says that if you turn back to Judaism, to the blood of bulls that are temporal, instead of the eternal blood of the Son of God, you're sinning willfully, and there remains no more sacrifice for sins.

If anyone tried to threaten you with that verse and say, "Look at Hebrews 10, 'If we sin willfully,' just turn around, tell them, 'Have you ever sinned willfully?'" No, no, I'm talking about myself. They never talk about themself but you bring it to themself. Tell them, "Have you sinned willfully? Ever since you were a Christian, have you sinned willfully, tell me? Have you"? They say, "Yes". Ding, gone, you're going to hell. Based on your theory, you're going to hell. You're going to hell, man. Because you cannot tell me, all right, this verse doesn't mean it goes against the eternal security.

If you believe that, have you sinned willfully ever? Have you ever sinned willfully after you became a believer? If the guy says Yes, you're going to hell based on your belief. That's right. It's not referring to that, y'all. It's referring to someone who came so close to accepting Jesus, like the Hebrews, and then they reject him outrightly. That is sinning willfully. So that is not covered in the sin of ignorance, so Jesus brought the entire nation under the sin of ignorance to make his sacrifice avail. Isn't it amazing, think about the love of God. Think about this God. Think about the love of God. God can take the most wicked thing that man ever did.

Jesus did no wrong. In him is no sin. He did no sin, went about doing good, loving children, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, sending him back to his family. But he has never touched and hugged for a long time, all right? Everywhere he went, he opened deaf ears, cast demons out, even demons tremble and beg him not to send them, all right, into the pits of hell. They are so afraid of him. This same Jesus went about doing good and to think that they took the perfect goodness that ever walked this earth and nailed him to a cross, the most wicked device of torture that was ever invented by the Phoenicians and then the Romans took it, all right? It was invented after David said, "That pierce my hands and my feet".

David lived before the invention of the cross, so God was prophesying the death of his Son, and imagine they took perfect love, perfect goodness, perfect healing, perfect power, and put it on the cross. It's almost like, "God, here's what we think of your Son. Here's what we think of your goodness. This is what we think of your love". Imagine what God did. You know what God did? God took the worst manifestation of man's action and God made the cross the means by which this sinful man can be saved, because now his Son is on the cross, God brought the judgment on his Son so that the judgment wouldn't fall on them. The cross became a lightning rod, so the lightning won't hit you, it will hit the rod.

That's why when the Bible says: "Jesus said, 'And if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.'" The word "men" is in italics. It's not in the original. I know we sing that, "If we lift Jesus, he'll draw all men," but the word "men" is not there. So in the original, he's talking about judgment in the previous verse. The next verse says: "If I be lifted on the cross, I will draw all judgment unto me like a lightning rod and finish that judgment". Praise your wonderful name, Lord. "I stand amazed, in the presence, of Jesus the Nazarene. And I wonder how he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful. Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me". Amen?

Where can you find this kind of love? You find so much love like, "I love you as long as you behave. I love you when you love me. I love you, you're to give to me. I love you," but a love that takes the very wicked thing that you do and turn it into a blessing for you, wow. Okay, we're not finished yet. So, there was this... Jesus died. He was buried and on the third day God raised him from the dead. He conquered death. Hey, the very thing you are afraid of, fear of death.

You see, most of the fears that people have is based and rooted in the fear of death, amen. It's not that people fear disease. If I tell you this disease won't kill you, you won't be afraid. It's only temporal, this disease. What people are afraid of is death. It's not the fear of flying, it's the fear of death. God hates death. The Bible calls death an enemy. Do you know God hates death? "Pastor Prince, people are dying". Exactly. You gotta know why. Don't blame God. God hates death. The wages of sin is death. "But why don't God just..."? I just told you. Jesus conquered death. "But can I have sin and not have death"?

Can you have your finger in the fire and not be burned? You cannot say, "Finger in fire, no burn". No can do. Fire burn, finger no touch. Finger touch fire, fire burn. Don't go to God and say, "God, you burned me". God didn't. is that plain enough? Isn't it amazing when it comes to things, you know, people just, like for example, "Pastor Prince, you always preach on grace". You know, I don't know why, you know, you preach on something else, I can preach on judgment if you want. In fact, I was preaching on judgment just now. How God's judged Jesus on your behalf. The funny thing is that we need to hear it again and again. I was just telling someone behind in my green room that, you know, people are funny. Sometimes they'll say things like, "You know, we heard that before". Doesn't mean you don't need to hear it again.

Many of you, you eat chicken and rice before. But I suspect, I highly suspect, you're gonna consume one soon. Honestly, many of you eat Durians. How to explain this to international audience? Okay, many of you eat ice cream. You like it. I'm sure that you close your eyes, you don't even eat it, you can imagine ice cream, how it tastes like. But I suspect many of you will still be eating ice cream. You don't say, "How come I'm always eating chicken rice? How come always eating ice cream"? No, yet when we tell you to go to God's Word and meditate on God's Word, you say, "I know that word already". You don't live by, "I've eaten chicken rice 2 weeks ago. I don't have to eat again". You're not healed by having heard. You are healed by hearing. Amen, people?

Have to keep on hearing. It is while you are hearing, God is healing, God is blessing. Okay, don't interrupt me anymore, okay? Come, let me just bring this to a close. So at the cross, he died and God raised him on the third day from the dead, and the King has risen. God gave Israel another chance. God sent Peter to preach to them, and guess what? Three thousand people were saved on the Day of Pentecost. The first Pentecost, the Jewish people will tell you that, was at Mount Sinai. God gave the Ten Commandments, the law. Three thousand died. At Mount Zion, on the Day of Pentecost, God gave the Spirit, not the law. Three thousand were saved.

There goes to show eh letter, the commandments, kill; grace saves. I wanna be under grace. I wanna have life. I don't want death. How about you? "Pastor Prince, I was just in a funeral where a Christian died". No, he didn't die. He fell asleep. "But I saw his body there". You didn't see his body; you saw his shell. You saw his house. In any case, if Jesus comes again, you know something? You cannot bring this house with you. Even if you are alive right now and Jesus comes in one minute's time, you're still alive, you cannot bring this house with you. He will change your body first, like unto his glorious body, and then he brings you up.

He is so courteous and considerate because many of you have a fear of heights. He's gonna give you a brand new body that will never decay, never grow old, never die. We will all look like Mr. Universe and Ms. Universe. Lawrence will, of course, look like Lawrence, Pastor Lawrence. Are you with me so far? Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost. Guess what? The nation responded. Three thousand people were saved. Good news, good news. If it's like this all the while, Jesus will return. Are you listening?

Because Jesus is still offering the kingdom to them. The kingdom wasn't rejected. He was offering the kingdom to them. And then, before it was, oh, a few chapters after that, 5,000 were saved. Wow, so far, so good. The nation is responding to the preaching of the gospel. Then came Stephen. This was the last chance. God gave them chance after chance after chance after chance. Peter's preaching and finally Stephen, who was a deacon, full of the Holy Spirit, full of grace, the Bible says, who did great signs and wonders among the people, he was now preaching to the leaders of the nation. I want to tell you something about the leaders you are under.

Always remember, as the leadership goes, so you go. You cannot say, "Well, Pastor Prince, the leader's a leader, I am the..." It was the leaders of the nation of Israel, the 12 tribes, the 12 leaders that went to spy out the land. Twelve came back. Ten of them said, "We cannot enter the land; the rest of the nation cannot enter the land". God goes by leadership. How much a citizen suffers in a country or not has got to do with the leadership of the land. The reason we are prospering in this nation, people wanna come and take citizenship in this country. They wanna stay here, a good place to bring up family, is because we have a good government. I'm not saying this compared to them. We have.

If you travel abroad, then you understand. We do have a good government, honest. You might not agree with everything. Nobody agrees with everything. You go to another nation, there are thing things we disagree. Taxation can be crazy in some countries. Anyway, back to this again. As your leadership goes, so go you. Which church you go to is very important. Which leader you come under, what books you read, it's very important. You like it or not, you will rise or fall based on your leadership, amen? Now, we're not the only right church or good church. I'm not saying that. There are many good churches in Singapore. But I tell you one thing: you cannot rise above your leader. So, pray for your leaders, amen?

Stephen now was addressing the leaders, the leaders of the nation, one more chance, and it was amazing. Once a while, you should read Acts 7, how Stephen started preaching to them, "The God of glory appeared to Abraham". I love it. It's not "God appeared to Abraham". "The God of glory appeared to Abraham". And he narrated the entire story of Israel, better than I did just now, all the way until, finally, the leaders... and by the way, when he started preaching, they looked at Stephen's face. The leaders of the nation of Israel, they looked at his face, and his face shone like an angel. It was the end of the dispensation of law. The beginning of the dispensation of the law came through a man with a shining face, Moses.

Now the end of the dispensation of the law ended with a man with a shining face. Stephen said, right towards the end, said, "Which prophet have you not killed," he told the leaders of the nation. And he says this: "You boast", like, they boast in the law, right? They are defenders of the law, and Stephen told them, these are the final straw. He said, "and none of you keep it". "Bang," they were so angry. The Bible says they looked at him like they were about to kill him, murder him, and they all rose up, and then Stephen looks up. And the Bible says, Stephen says, "I see the heavens open," and he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the Father's right hand. Not just see Jesus but saw the glory of God.

Hey, church, the year of greater glory. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand. But I thought Jesus was sitting, right? The Bible says, after Jesus rose from the dead, he went back to the Father, and then he's seated. But why did Stephen see him standing? Because the reason he was standing, don't forget, the offer of a kingdom was still offered, was still stretched out to Israel. Israel was this close to experiencing the return of Jesus the King, and if Jesus returns, it'll be utopia on earth. It'll be heaven on earth not just for Israel, for all the nations of the world. There'll be no more hospitals. There'll be no more courts, criminal courts. There'll be no more children dying young. In fact, there'd be no more death because the King is now reigning in his kingdom, and the kingdom of God will permeate the entire earth.

Wow, that's why he was standing to return. If the leader says "Baruch haba b'Shem Adonai"... Jesus says, "The day you say these words, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,' He will return". That's why he was standing. Wow, it was this close, people. Instead, the Bible says, they stopped their ears like children. They refused to hear. You can read about it. They refused to hear, and then they dragged Stephen out, and they threw him to the ground. They removed their clothes. They are in for some really heavy business, all right, and they put their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul. They put all their clothes at Saul's feet. He was a young man then, and they stoned Stephen, and Stephen was being stoned. Stephen called up to Jesus.

Like I said just now, a Christian doesn't die. Even though you attend a funeral recently, what you're seeing is just a shell. The real person is more alive than you, happier than you, in heaven. Hmm? Let it be, when you were born as a baby, you came into this world, everyone laughed, but you cried. Maybe, when you leave this world, everyone is crying, but you are laughing in heaven on the other side, amen? So it was this close. As Stephen was being stoned, Stephen, prayed a same prayer, "Lord Jesus, lay not this sin to their charge".

What a beautiful prayer. I believe he never even felt the stones for him to pray that prayer. In other words, a Christian even involved in an accident, even, just at the nick of time, "pshew," his soul comes home. His spirit is snatched. What is left is the shell. Even the shell is mangled, a Christian never experience death. Jesus says, "He that believes in Me shall never die". That's why the word is used, "They fall asleep". If Jesus should tarry, a believer will fall asleep. Are you with me? But instead of saying we have sinned, "Welcome back". They stoned the messenger. The final straw, they stoned Stephen.

But the amazing thing is that the chapter ends, they put their clothes, those who stoned, they put their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, who was a Pharisee of Pharisees. That means this young man is a prodigy. At a young age, he's already a Pharisee of Pharisees, like a musician of musicians, a singer of singers, a master chef of master chefs, I mean, holy of holies. You know what I'm saying? And it was Saul, Pharisee of Pharisees. He was there, and the Bible says he was consenting unto Stephen's death. In other words, I tried to imagine he did something like this. They look at him because he was the one with the greatest authority there, Pharisee of Pharisees.

They took the rocks, and they look at him, and he did this... and they stoned. And God looked down, and Jesus sat down again. God looked at that young man Saul, and God says, "I'm gonna make him, this greatest legalist", he calls himself "the chief of sinners" later on, "I'll make the chief of sinners the legalist of legalists, the greatest apostle of grace that ever walked on planet Earth". Are you with me so far?

The very next chapter, we have chapter 7, just now, chapter 8. Chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10, are all conversions of individuals. Chapter 8 is the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. Chapter 9 is the conversion of Paul, all right, on the Road of Damascus. He became Paul. Chapter 10 is the conversion of Cornelius, the Italiano, the centurion of the Roman band. Chapter 8, Ethiopian eunuch. Who is he from? How many sons does Noah have? Three sons. What are their names? Ham, Shem, butter, sausage. Ham, Shem, and Japheth, amen. Ham. "Ham" means "hot". These are the warrior tribes. The Egyptians came from them. The Canaanites came from them. They are warrior tribes. They live in hot places. Their name "Ham" means "hot".

Then we have Shem. The Jews came from Shem. That's why they got "Semitic" tribes, from the word "Shem". "Anti-Semitic". "Shem". "Shem" means "name". Shmi Yosef. "Shmi" means "my name," all right? "Shmi 'ha Yosef," "My name is Joseph," all right? Now, then we have Shem, then we have Yapheth. Yapheth is where all the Europeans come from. "Yapheth" means "expansion," and they are known for their expansion, amen. So the three sons of Noah repopulated the earth, Ham, Shem, and Japheth. In chapter 8, right after Stephen died, the mystery started. Israel is suspended for a while. The kingdom is now in abeyance, in other words, a postponement for a while, and the mystery of the church came in.

This mystery was in God's heart. It's not an afterthought. Don't think it's an afterthought. It is in God's dream, in God's heart, all the while, to have a people who are the body of his Son. But the prophets of the Old Testament never knew about the church. That's what... they can't talk about the church. The church is a mystery, amen. And what happened was this: In chapter 8, the Ethiopian eunuch got converted, got saved, right? He's from Ham. The next chapter, Saul became Paul. He got saved. He's a Semite, Shem. Chapter 10, Cornelius, the Roman, he's from Japheth.

So Shem, Ham, Japheth, all saved in those three chapters. So now when God stopped dealing with Israel, the time clock, Israel, stopped. Tick. It stopped. It stopped for 2,000 years. Doesn't mean God has forgotten Israel. Israel is now "Lo-ammi," which is like, "not my people," "in suspension". The kingdom is held back. You cannot have a kingdom without the king, but meanwhile, the church is experiencing the kingdom of God's benefits. Are you listening? And how long has it been this mystery? Two thousand years. And once Jesus comes to save Israel from the Antichrist, the clock will start ticking again. Israel will come back and join us. Are you listening?

Today, there's no Shem, Ham, Japheth. We are all one new man in Christ Jesus. No such thing as ethnicity anymore. Are you with me? Let me close with this verse, okay? At least we read some Scripture verse. You feel like we read something from the Bible. Actually, all that I shared is from the Bible, y'all know? All right, I can show you verse after verse, but it will just take my time. I just wanna give you a lot of verses in a short time, but in the ending, we like for you to see this verse. It's a beautiful verse about the church. From the New Living Translation, look at this: "God has put all things under the authority of Christ and made Christ head over all things for the benefit of the church".

When God raised Jesus from the dead, the Bible says God raised him "far above". Not just "above," "far above" all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named. If medical science has a name for your condition, Jesus's name is above that name. At the name of Jesus, every disease bow. Far above, his name, his person is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in the world to come. Right after he said that, he says, "God has put all things under the authority of Christ". In other words, "God made him Lord over all things for the benefit of the church".

That's why I tell you things like this. You have the power of attorney. If I send you to China to conduct my business, I don't go there physically. I send you. I give you the power of attorney. You know what's the power of attorney? You can sign my checks. You sign in my name, all right? How much you can sign depends on how much I have, lah. But how much does Jesus have? How much does Jesus have? "Far above all power and might, above every name". And that's why, when you pray for the sick, you don't pray to God, "God, please heal the sick," "God, please heal the sick".

I can tell you, that kind of prayer is not effective. You don't see answer to the prayer. What you do is command that body to be healed. Curse that cancer in the name of Jesus. And it's as if you are using the power of attorney, not "as if". You are using the power of attorney. Even though physically I'm not in China, you can do my business because you have the power of attorney. So, likewise, we're on earth. Physically, Jesus is not here, but he's here by his Spirit and in the power of his name. We can say, "In the name of Jesus, pimple, die," amen? "In the name of Jesus, hair, grow," amen? "In the name of Jesus, headache, go," amen. Start small. Start somewhere, amen?

Many people, they are... Jesus said, "Speak to the mountain, and it will move". But we are speaking to God about our problem. God is speaking to us to speak to our problem, but we speak to God about our problem. So we say, "God, I have this problem". God says, "Speak to your problem," and we speak to God, and God says, "I am not your problem. I would appreciate it, when you talk to me, you praise me, you worship me, you speak words of love to me, you thank me". It's a prayer of thanksgiving most of the time. "You can ask me for some things, but when it comes to things that you", it's very clear. Disease is not from God.

If your child has fever, rebuke that fever in Jesus's name. You can pray to God to give you wisdom about this condition. I'll pray for wisdom to know how to treat your child, give more water, or whatever. That, you can pray. When it comes to the sickness, you don't God to do something about the sickness. He's done everything when he sent Jesus, and Jesus took the stripes on his back. Now he gives you the power of attorney. If the devil comes and tried to put snakes in your house, someone come and deliver to your door, "ding-dong", "Snakes for you". What do you do? "Oh, okay, lah, bring it inside the living room". No, just slam the door in Jesus's name, amen? Wrong address, amen. Use the name of Jesus, y'all, amen. Start somewhere.

Your ulcer, say, "Ulcer, be healed in Jesus's name," amen? "Stomach, be six packs, in Jesus's name, yo, one, two, three, four, five, six. Feel free to put two more, Lord". I'll tell you this: I talk to my hair, you know? Said, "Hair, be fruitful and multiply in Jesus's name". So far, so good. If your knee is hurting you, speak to your knee and say, "In the name of Jesus", God made him head of all things, not for heaven's benefit, "for the church benefit".

Many of us are like policemen who doesn't stop the three-ton'er or the truck when he has the authority. It's not how big he is or how big the truck is and how small he is. It's a question of who is behind him. The entire Navy, the entire Air Force is behind this policeman who put up his hand. It's not who you are in yourself when you say, "In the name of Jesus". It's not whether you are male or female, young or old, pastor or no pastor. This time, we'll follow them that believe, not just pastors. Use the name. Use the name. All of a sudden, you find this person falls sick of the same thing. This child falls sick of the same thing. This one falls, same, there's a spirit going on, so speak to the spirit. "You foul spirit that's attacking my family, stop and get lost. Get out in Jesus's name". Don't say, "Get lost," because it's really lost already. It's a lost spirit. You know what I'm saying?

Some people... and don't talk to demons, please. When people are demon-possessed, don't talk to demons. What kind of conversation do you expect to have from a demon? Pastor Henry and I have tried to cast out demons, your dad and I, all right, from demons that talk back. I told you the story, right, before? From a lady, a man's voice spoke out of her throat. I told Pastor Henry, "I'm gonna pray. You continue. I gotta pray". Left him alone for a while, and those were early days. A demon spoke back. I never had a demon who talked back. But, one thing, don't engage in a conversation with them. Jesus always said, "Hold your peace. Hold your peace".

There's only one time Jesus said, "What is your name"? And he says, "Legion". And that's a very unique case, but you don't ask demons question, "What's your name"? The demon says, "Lying". "Are you telling me the truth"? You asked for it. Even the demon is confused. So just cast it out. Don't play games. Just cast it out. See, you're taking my time. Don't blame me if you're late. Have you all received this so far? Having said that, the church has lasted for 2,000 years, "church," listen, which "is his body, is made full and complete by Christ".

Ephesians 5, come on, Ephesians 5, drop down all the way. Drop down. I'll show you a great mystery. Verse, "This is a great mystery. I speak concerning Christ and the church". Even though Paul is talking about husband loving your wife, it's "Christ and the church". "Nevertheless," he says, "let each one of you in particular love his own wife as himself," and the Bible says, "We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones". His flesh is healthy. His bones is full of life. "We are members of His flesh and of His bones," hallelujah.

How many of you know the church is not a building? The church is not steeple, tower. It is not stained glass windows. It's not organ music. The church is made up of living organisms of human beings that Christ has redeemed. He is the head, and we are his body. The church of Jesus Christ is filled with the fullness of God. Go back again to we are, "the church is his body. It is made full and complete by Christ".

Friends, I'm telling you, the church of Jesus Christ is the most successful, the most powerful, the wealthiest and the greatest organization ever in the universe, amen. It's the Father's dream, and Jesus paid for it. We know that God loved the world. He died for the world, yes, but it's almost, "Husband, love your wife as Christ did. He gave himself for the church". He gave himself for the church. So I wanna tell you something: When you're sick, find someone in the church to pray for you. When you're confused, don't neglect coming to church. Don't forsake all the answers. The fullness of Jesus is here.

Wherever you are, all right, watching this, that's where the fullness of Jesus is. The church is God's idea. It's God's dream. You want powerful weapons, gifts? It's in the church. Hollywood can only dream of a superhero that wears his red underwear outside. It's all a fantasy. For us, ours is a real hero who gave his life to save not one Lois Lane or some helpless person, entire world. You know the "Heroes" TV series? They have special gifts, but it's all fantasy. The church of Jesus Christ, each of you have a gift, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, tongues, prophecy, gifts of healings, gifts of working of miracles. It's all there. Where? In the church.

Keep on coming. Keep on receiving. Never forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The work of demons is always to bring individuals away from the church. Remember the Gadarene demonic? He was so demon-possessed, the devil brought him away alone from people. He was cutting himself. So, whenever you feel, like, thoughts coming, "Leave the church". "Be by yourself". It's demonic activity. He wants you cut off from the comfort, from the encouragement in the church. Are you listening?

All of you have amazing power gifts. Marvel Comics can only dream. Yours is for real. Some of us look like Superman. Some look like Incredible Hulk. That gives good news. By the way, just to let you know that, do you know, one of God's names "Hero"? You know that? One of God's name is "Hero". It says, Jesus name, "The government shall be upon his shoulders. His name shall be Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, and the Mighty God". "Mighty God" there is "El Gibbor," which is... "El" is "power". "Gibbor" is "Hero". That's why the name "Gabriel" is "Gibbor El," in reverse, amen? "Gibbor" is "champion," "hero". Jesus is El Gibbor, our powerful hero. Praise the Lord. Are you blessed today?

Every head bowed, every eye closed, all across this place. Thank you, Jesus. Friend, if you are here today or you're watching this in the privacy of your home through Christian television, if you have never made this wonderful Jesus... I'm asking you to embrace a superhero, Savior of the world. His name is Jesus. If you say, "Yes," then pray this prayer with me right now. Say:

Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe you sent him because you love me. And on that cross, Christ took my sins, bore all my judgment, and died in my place. You raised him from the dead, and he's alive at your right hand with the power of an endless life. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. All my sins have been forgiven. I'm now a brand-new creation in Christ. And, God, you are my Father. Thank you, in Jesus's name, (and all the people said) amen, amen, amen.


Lift your hands all across this place.

This coming week, the Lord bless you and your families with the blessings of Abraham, the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. The Lord keep you and your loved ones from every sickness and disease, from all dangers, harm, and accidents, from all the powers of darkness, and from all the power of the evil one. The Lord make his face shine on you, be favorable to you. May you find yourself at the right place at the right time, enjoying the favors of God. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and your families and grant to you and your loved ones his shalom peace, in Jesus's name. And the greatest church on earth, not just New Creation, church all over said, "Amen". God bless you.

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